


Cut Horns

by Melime



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Community: femslashficlets, F/F, Mutilation, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Herah was attacked and had her horns cut out, Sera helps her cope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cut Horns

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Chifres Cortados](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736345) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> Written for femslashficlets, challenge #023 "mirror".

Herah looked in the mirror, and felt herself break. This was the first time she was looking at herself since she was rescued and somehow seeing it with her own eyes make everything more real than just feeling it. She knew what had happened, she could still feel her head far too light, but it only became real when she saw in her reflection that her horns were really gone. Her mind went back to the many times she saw a wounded warrior having to be shown the stub before believing in the loss of a limb, then she reprimanded herself for the comparison.

It could have been a lot worse, she knew that. She still had her tongue and her lips weren’t sewed shut, and more importantly she hadn’t been taken too far away, so the Inquisition tropes were able to find her after no more than a couple days. She had been caught by slavers, she felt she should consider herself lucky to have her life and freedom. But she didn’t, she felt humiliated and weak. She wanted to stay in bed and cry her eyes out, but she had a world to save. The Inquisition needed her to remain strong, so she would, even if it was the last thing she wanted to do.

Herah raised a hand to what little was left of her right horn, and bit her lip to keep herself from crying. She knew some Tal-Vashoth decided to cut them to look scarier, but she never really understood that, and in any case, it was different from being attacked in such way. Herah was so concentrated on her own reflection she didn’t even noticed the sneaky elf approaching her, until she placed her arms around Herah’s neck.

“The healers said you needed more time to rest,” Sera said quietly.

Herah lowered her hand to touch Sera’s arm. “I’m sure Corypheus and his templars won’t mind giving me a truce to recover, but this isn’t an excuse to stay in bed.”

“Don’t say this. We could have lost you, _I_ could have lost you. No one expects you to just jump back into missions.” Sera’s voice sounded weak and worried, in a way Herah never heard before, and that made her heart sink.

“It’s not about what they expect of me, no one expected us to get this far, it’s about what I have to do. We still have so much to do and we are running out of time.”

“You don’t have to do anything today, the world can wait.”

“Every day we don’t stop Corypheus is another day people are dying. I can’t be responsible for that.”

“The Bull said they won’t grow back,” Sera said after a long pause.

Herah sighed. “They stop growing in early adulthood, yes. But you shouldn’t worry. It didn’t… it didn’t hurt, not really. It’s like cutting your nails, with a rusted knife, being held down…” She shook her head, trying to shake away the memories.

“Yeah, that sure will make me stop worrying,” Sera said, teary.

Herah reached out to her, pulling Sera to sit on her lap. “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know how to deal with this. Things could have been so much worse, if you and the others hadn’t been so quick to find me… I know it’s not that bad, that I shouldn’t…” she trailed off. Her shoulders were shaking from the strain of trying not to cry, and she pressed her eyes shut.

Sera framed her face, kneeling on Herah’s legs so they were on eye level. She waited for Herah to open her eyes before speaking. “None of that matters, it’s not about what you should be feeling, it’s about what you are feeling. Please, just… just tell me how I can help you.” Sera kissed her.

Herah held on to her like a lifeline. For a while, neither of them spoke. Herah couldn’t quite understand what she was feeling, nor what she needed. It was hard to accept help when she couldn’t stop telling herself she was overreacting. Finally, she said, “They did a lousy job, I’ll have to scrape them later, to smooth out the edges. But I… I can’t do this now. Could you just stay with me until I can?”

Sera rested her head against Herah’s chest. “You know I will, you don’t even have to ask.”

“Yes, I know.” She placed her hands on Sera’s back. Maybe she wasn’t as alright as she thought she should be, but she still would get herself back together, and maybe that wasn’t as much of a problem as she feared. It would be ok, everything would be ok, and in any case, she had Sera to protect her, from herself as well as from any threat.


End file.
